RedCap (NR-Light): reduced capability UE for wearables, sensors

RedCap Device Capabilities

Reduced Capability NR, defined in 3GPP Rel-17 TS 38.306, bridges the gap between full NR smartphones and LPWAN technologies like NB-IoT and LTE-M. RedCap limits device bandwidth to 20 MHz in FR1 (versus 100 MHz for full NR), supports only one receive antenna (versus two or four), restricts maximum MIMO layers to one, and allows half-duplex FDD operation. These reductions cut modem complexity by approximately 65% and lower device cost to the $15-25 range. Despite these limitations, RedCap retains key NR advantages: network slicing support, lower latency than LTE IoT technologies, and operation…